R .

Mohana Ranga Rao - (IJAEST) INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVANCED ENGINEERING SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGIES
Vol No. 3, Issue No. 1, 012 - 014

An Innovative procedure to minimize Boolean

function
R .Mohana Ranga Rao

Department of Electronics and communication Engineering

KITE college of Professional engineering sciences, JNTUH
Shabad,India
e-mail: mohana_rangarao@yahoo.co.in

Abstract— In this paper a simplification technique is products(SOP)and product-of-sums(POS) expressions to

introduced to minimize a Boolean function. Karnaugh map
(K-map) and Quine-McCluskey methods are well
established methods to simplify a logic function. Using
this method the simplification is fast, also the number of
gates required to realize a function gets reduced to greater
extent with a minimum effort. In present discussion a new
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method is introduced in which new terms called M-terms
obtained in order to improve the performance of
conventional methods. The given method can be
implemented to any number of variables.
Keywords- Boolean Function, Simplification, M-terms,
Quine McCluskey, Face value
I. INTRODUCTION
Boolean function minimization using M-terms is a
A
modified Quine-McCluskey [4] [6] method; it is a very
simple and systematic technique for minimizing Boolean
functions. Why do we want to minimize a Boolean
expression? By simplifying the logic function we can
reduce the original number of digital components (gates)
required to implement digital circuits. Therefore by
reducing the number of gates, the chip size and the cost
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be obtained(Karnaugh,1953)[3]. The Karnaugh Map (K-
Map) based technique breaks down beyond six variables.
Quine[6] and McCluskey[4] proposed an algorithmic-
based technique for simplifying Boolean logic functions
(McCluskey, 1956;Quine,1952).
The Quine-McCluskey (Q-M) method is a computer-
based technique for simplification and has mainly two
advantages over the K-Map method. Firstly, it is
systematic for producing a minimal function that is less
dependent on visual patterns. Secondly, it is available
scheme for handling a large number of variables. A
number of methods have been developed that can generate
optimal solutions directly at the expense of additional
computation time. Another algorithm was reported by
Petrick(1959)[5]. This algorithm uses an algebraic
approach to generate all possible covers of a function. A
popular tool for simplifying Boolean expressions is the
Espresso, but it is not guaranteed to find the best two-level
expression (Katz,1994)[1]. The main advantage of
proposed method over the conventional methods is the
entire simplification is based on the decimal values (E.g.
M-terms) which are well known to each and every
designer, so in practice it is easy to implement this method
to improve the performance.

will be reduced, and the speed will be increased. Logic

minimization uses a variety of techniques to obtain the
simplest gate-level implementation of a logic function.
The heart of digital logic design is the Boolean algebra
(Boole, 1954)[2].A few decades later C.E.Shannon
showed how the Boolean algebra can be used in the design
of digital circuits(Shannon,1938)[7].Using Boolean laws It
is possible to minimize digital logic circuits(Hunting-
ton,1904).Since minimization with the use of Boolean
laws is not systematic nor suitable for computer
implementation, a number of algorithms were proposed in
order to overcome the implementation issue. Karnaugh [3]
proposed a technique for simplifying Boolean expressions
using an elegant visual technique, which is actually a
modified truth table intended to allow minimal sum-of-
II. RELATEDWORK
The digital gates (Logic gates) are basic
electronic components of any digital circuit. A logic gate
performs a logical operation based on one or more inputs
and produces a single output voltage value (i.e. voltage
levels high and low). Logically these voltage values can be
referred to as 1s and 0s and are used in designing and
analyzing the operations of logic gates. A logic gate
represents a Boolean function. A Boolean function is an
algebraic expression formed with Boolean variables
(having values true or 1 and false or 0) and the logical
operators (i.e. OR, AND, and NOT). These may be a large
number of Boolean algebraic expressions that specify a

ISSN: 2230-7818 @ 2011 http://www.ijaest.iserp.org. All rights Reserved. Page 12

R .Mohana Ranga Rao - (IJAEST) INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVANCED ENGINEERING SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGIES
given Boolean function. It is therefore important to find
the simplest one.
A Boolean function can be represented by a truth
table. A truth table is a tabular arrangement of
representing all the input-output relationships of a digital
circuit. It displays all possible input values combinations
with their respective output values. Normally a Boolean
expression can be given using two forms: SOP and POS.
SOP Boolean expressions may be generated from truth
tables quite easily by forming an OR of the ANDs of all
input variables (standard products or min terms) for which
the output is 1. POS expressions are based on the 0s, in a
truth table and generated oppositely as SOP by taking an
AND of the ORs of all input variables (standard sums or
max terms).
III. DEFINITIONS
A. Sum of products(SOP): This is the more common
form of Boolean expressions. The expressions are
implemented as AND gates (products) feeding a single
OR gate (sum).
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B. Product of sums(POS): This is less commonly used
form of Boolean expressions. The expressions are
implemented as OR gates (sums) feeding into a single
AND gate (product).
C. Face value: List the powers of two from right to left.
Start at 20, evaluating it as "1". Increment the exponent
by one for each power. Stop when the amount of
elements in the list is equal to the amount of digits in
the binary number.
The example number, 10011011, has eight digits, so
A
the list, to eight elements, would look like this: 128,
64, 32, 16, 8, 4, 2, 1 these elements are called face
values of corresponding elements of respective
positions.
D. M-terms:M-terms are generated by
addition/subtraction of corresponding min term with its
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face values. [addition (if the Binary value is a ‘0’) or
subtraction (if the Binary value is a ‘1’].
For example: 5 is the given min term
Minterm Binary notation face value M-terms
5 0101 8 4 2 1 13 1 7 4
IV. M-TERM BASED SIMPLIFICATION PROCEDURE
The main advantage of proposed method over the
conventional methods is, the entire simplification is
based on the decimal values (E.g. M-terms) which are
well known to each and every designer, so in practice it is
ISSN: 2230-7818 @ 2011 http://www.ijaest.iserp.org. All rights Reserved.
Vol No. 3, Issue No. 1, 012 - 014
easy to implement this method to improve the
performance.
The procedure for M-terms based
simplification is presented using the proposed algorithm:
1. Enter the min terms which are to be simplified and
obtain the binary notations for each min term.
2. Now obtain the face values of all the given min
terms. (Usually it would be same for all the min
terms).
3. Calculate the M-terms for the given min terms.
4. Compare each M-term with provided input (min
terms), to identify the adjacent terms. If a M-term is
Equivalent to any min term of provided input then the
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min term and the M-term has to be grouped together
to make a pair (prime implicant).While grouping the
two terms follow ascending order.
5. Repeat the above step until it is impossible to compare
the terms, and exclude all the repeated pairs.
6. Compare Prime implicants with each other such that
the difference between the elements of a prime
implicant should be same and it should be equal to the
2L , L=0,1,2…..N. While comparing make sure that
the comparison is done between like elements i.e. the
first elements of two pairs and the second elements of
two pairs has to be compared. Once there are any two
terms that differ by 2 L ,then group the two pairs as a
single Quad. Now repeat the same procedure among
all pairs.
7. Swap all the combined terms, and terms that were not
combined at all and the prime implicants which are
not a part of any single quad.
8. Now repeat the VI & VII steps to minimize the given
Boolean function/min terms until it is impossible to
combine the terms.
9. Now eliminate the redundant prime implicants by
using Prime implicant chart as in Quine-McCluskey
method
V. EXAMPLE
Simplify Єm (0,1,2,3,4,5)
1. Min term Binary notation
0 0000
1 0001
2 0010
3 0011
4 0100
5 0101
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R .Mohana Ranga Rao - (IJAEST) INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVANCED ENGINEERING SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGIES
Vol No. 3, Issue No. 1, 012 - 014

9. By using Prime Implicant chart we can eliminate the

2. Min term Binary notation Face Value redundant pair (1, 5)

0 0000 8421 VI. CONCLUSION

1 0001
2 0010
3 0011
4 0100
5 0101
In this paper a new method called M-term based
8421
Boolean Simplification is introduced by using which
8421 performance of a digital circuit can be increased by
reducing the number of literals in a Boolean function. As
8421 we are using M-terms instead of comparing the binary
values as in Quine McCluskey method we can avoid the
8421 possibility of errors such that we can improve the
performance of conventional methods by using the present
8421 method.

3. VII. REFERENCES
[1] SP Tomaszewski(2003):WWW-based Boolean

T
Min term Binary notation Face Value M-terms
function minimization-International journal of applied
0 0000 8421 8 4 2 1
mathematics and Computer Sciences, 2003, vol.13,
1 0001 8421 9 5 3 0
No. 1,577-583
2 0010 8421 10 6 0 3
3 0011 8421 11 7 1 2 [2] Boole G.(1954): An Investigation of the Laws of
4 0100 8421 12 0 6 5 Thought. Newyork
5 0101 8421 ES 13 1 7 4 [3] Karnaugh M.(1953):The map method for synthesis of
combinatorial logic circuits.—
4. Comparing M-terms with Input Єm(0,1,2,3,4,5) Trans.AIEEComm.Electron.,Vol.72, No.4, pp.593–
598.
Comparing the M-terms of the first min term i.e. ‘0’ [4] McCluskeyE.J.(1956): Minimization of Boolean
with input the possible prime implicants are functions.—BellSystemTech. J.,
Vol.35,No.5,pp.1417–1444
(0, 1), (0, 2), (0, 4)
[5] PetrickS.K.(1959): On the minimization of Boolean
Similarly by comparing the other terms we will have functions Proc.Int.Conf.
the following prime implicants InformationProcessing,Paris:Unesco,pp.422–423.
[6] QuineW.V.(1952): The problem of simplifying
(1,0),(1,3),(1,5),(2,0),(2,3),(3,1),(3,2),(4,0),(4,5),(5,1),
A
truthtables.—
(5,4) Amer.Math.Month.,Vol.59,No.8,pp.521–531.
[7] ShannonC.E.(1938): symbolic analysis of relay and
5. Excluding the repeated terms which satisfies switchingcircuits.—Trans.AIEE,
associative law [(x,y)==(y,x)] and making the Vol.57,No.6,pp.713–723.
elements in ascending order
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(0,1),(0,2),(0,4),(1,3),(1,5),(2,3),(4,5)
About Author:
6. Now compare (0,1) with all other prime implicants
(such that the difference between the corresponding
elements should be same and it should be equal to 2L)
(0, 1) and (0,2) -- 0-0=0 & 1-2=1(ignore the negative R.Mohana Ranga Rao is an
values) here the difference is not same Asst professor in KITE college of
(0, 1) and (2, 3) -- 0-2=2 & 1-3=2(ignore the negative Professional engineering sciences,
values) here the difference is same and is equal to21 JNTUH & Pursuing M.Tech from
So they can be combined as a group (0, 1, 2, 3) St.Mary’s college of engineering and
technology, Hyderabad & completed
7. On swapping, the terms remained are his B.Tech from sree kavitha
(0,1,2,3),(1,5) and (4,5) engineering college, khammam

8. (0,1,2,3),(1,5) and (4,5)

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